


His Mysterious Other

by sottovoce81



Series: Impossible Missions Force: Project S.H.I.E.L.D. [2]
Category: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Having Scarily-Competent "Friends" Rocks!, Humor, M/M, Secret Marriage, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-18
Updated: 2012-06-18
Packaged: 2017-11-08 00:48:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/437297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sottovoce81/pseuds/sottovoce81
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The IMF team led by Ethan Hunt runs into a bit of a set-back during their latest mission.  Agent Brandt calls in a favor from a..."friend."</p>
            </blockquote>





	His Mysterious Other

**Author's Note:**

> Sister #2 and I were watching MI4: Ghost Protocol, and this little story just burst out of everywhere during that movie. This takes place a few weeks after the events of Ghost Protocol, and about two years before the Avengers are formed.

“Damnit, Brandt!” Ethan Hunt hissed into the comm system.  “They’re going to split up at the office!  Find a way to intercept and stop it!  We can’t follow them both!”

 Brandt kept walking, face stony as he tailed Victor Flavate and Andrei Partolev.  He was flashing through options.  Flavate had the tapes, and Partolev had the records.  To lose either would mean the mission failed and a war would break out.

 “Twenty-four seconds!” Hunt yelled into the comm.  “Do something!  Anything!”

 Brandt pulled his cell phone from his coat pocket, breaking out into a jog.  “How much do you trust me, Ethan?”

 “Do what you have to.”

 Brandt tapped Partolev on the shoulder.  “Excuse me, gentlemen,” he said in very poorly accented Russian.  “Did either of you drop this phone?”  He waved it in front of their faces as if to give them a better look.

 Partolev and Flavate both looked annoyed at the interruption.  “No,” Partolev answered roughly.  “It is not ours.  You are mistaken.”

 “Excuse me,” Brandt apologized.  “So sorry.”

 He watched as they turned and left, splitting up seven seconds later at the juncture of the office building and street side.  He waited five seconds before he took off following Partolev.

 “Brandt?” Ethan asked.

 “Hold on.  You said you trusted me.”  Brandt dialed a number into his cell, and let it ring.

  _“Jefferson Healthcare, how may I direct your call?”_

 “Get the pictures from my phone,” Brandt ordered.  “I need you to trace both men.  It’s imperative that we not lose them.  But if you have to focus on one, follow Flavate; he has tapes on his person that we need.  I’m going after Partolev, who has a flashdrive full of records.  We’ve just diverged at... Nevsky Ulitsa, 4/24. Flavate is headed South; Partolev and I are going West.”

 “What pictures?” Ethan asked over the line.  Brandt had forgotten that Ethan would hear whatever he said on the comm line.  “What are you talking about?”

 “Not you,” Brandt growled, then he focused back on his phone to add one last parting shot.  “I’m calling in a favor.”  He didn’t wait for a reply, but hung up, knowing his request was as good as fulfilled.

 Ethan sounded frustrated now.  “Brandt, who did you bring into this?  Is it someone we can trust?”

 “Of course it is,” Brandt all but growled.  “Why would I risk this mission with anyone I didn’t trust?  Just focus on climbing that wall.  I’ve got eyes on Partolev.  Carter, what’s your position?”

 “I’m in,” she replied.  “Calibrating the cannon now.”

 “Benji?” Brandt checked.

 “I’m still in the elevator,” he replied, sounding a little nervous.  “Are you sure this is going to work?”

 “You’ll be fine.  Just remember what Ethan told you.  And Ethan, don’t land wrong on that knee because I can’t come and pull your ass out of the compactor when I’m all the way across town.”

 Ethan chuckled slightly, though he sounded a bit out of breath.  “Noted.  Just get Partolev and Flavate.”

 Brandt saw Partolev dart into the alley and smiled.  “Consider it done.  See you at the rendezvous in fifty-two minutes.”

 ____________________________________________________

   
The mission went off with...several hitches.  But it was a success.

 Ethan landed correctly on the four-inch-wide crossbeam.  Carter had the cannon up and running two point three seconds before it was actually needed.  Benji stalled the business men just long enough to switch the papers.  And Brandt took Partolev down in the alleyway.

 The team showed up at the rendezvous on the dot at 9pm, in room 714 of the Marquine Hotel.

 “You have the records?” Ethan asked Brandt before anyone else could even utter a word.

 He pulled the flashdrive from his pocket.  “They were copied onto this.  There’s another copy being sent to IMF as we speak.”

 “And the tapes?”

 “On their way.  They’re being delivered now.”

 “By your mysterious friend?” Benji asked.  “I want to know how he managed to track down Flavate, using only a picture from _your_ camera phone, which he would have had to be connected to ahead of time, in order to receive and trace so quickly.  And how come you have friends in town already?”

 “I’m here on business,” a new voice spoke calmly.

 The IMF team (minus Brandt) pulled their guns immediately.

 The man standing in the bedroom doorway frowned slightly at the sight, but didn’t flinch.  He was  Caucasian, dark hair neatly kept, rather ordinary black suit, stood casually, but with a set to his shoulders that belied his ability to protect himself and do it well.

 Brandt smiled.  “Ethan, put the gun down.  This is Coulson.”

 “Agent Coulson,” the man corrected, glancing at the three of them as Brandt walked over to his side.  “I work for a branch of the IMF.”

 Ethan lowered his gun, and motioned for the others to do the same, but kept it ready at his side.  “How come I’ve never met you before?  I thought I knew most of the agents in the IMF.”

 Coulson inclined his head to the side minutely.  “My branch is a rather...select...group of agents.  It doesn’t concern you.  I’m here to deliver the tapes that were on Flavate’s person.  Flavate himself is currently indisposed in the bathtub.”

 Ethan frowned, and went to look in the bedroom.  He brushed past Brandt and Coulson with a curious look on his face.  He returned moments later, looking amused and a little surprised.  “You brought him here alive,” he commented.

 Coulson shrugged.  “I didn’t know whether you needed him or not, just that he had tapes on his person that you required.”

 Ethan nodded slowly.  “So you’re a friend of Brandt’s then?  How much did this favor cost him?”

 Brandt’s mouth was stretching into a slow smile.

 “That is not really your concern, Agent Hunt,” Coulson said mildly.  “And I have business that I must get back to, so I fear I must bid you goodnight.”  To Brandt, he added, “The Russians think they’ve heard rumors of our Germans finding the Captain.  If this is true, then we need to locate him before they can negate the serum like the Director is postulating they know how to do.”

 Brandt grimaced a little at the thought.  “Sorry to have pulled you away.  Thanks for the hand.”

 Coulson nodded, before heading for the door.  He paused though, just before reaching it.  “When do you think you’ll be done here?”

 Brandt shrugged, glancing at Ethan.  “Three hours, give or take another setback.”

 “The jet will leave in five, for Germany.  We could use your help scouting when we land.”

 Brandt smiled.  “I’ll be there.  And work now, because when I get there, I’m making you take a break to eat something.  I’m guessing all you’ve had today are your doughnuts.”

 Coulson shrugged, mouth tipping up in a slight grin.  “They’re fast sugar.”

 “They’re not healthy,” Brandt groused.  “You need real food once in a while.  And sleep.”

 “I’ll sleep when we have the Captain,” he countered.

 “You don’t even know if he’s alive,” Brandt argued.

 “He has to be.”

 Brandt sighed.  Then rolled his eyes.  “Of course, Agent Coulson.  You have five hours to get everything in order, then we’re taking a break.  So hop to it, man.”

 Coulson's mouth twisted into a smirk that belied his unfamiliarity with being ordered to do anything.  Then he about-faced and exited with a grace that spoke of military history.

 Ethan frowned.  “You’ve already agreed to another job?  You know we’re not done here...right?”

 Brandt shrugged.  “We’ll be done in time.  All we have to do is deliver the package and record the tapes.”

 “How did Coulson track Flavate?” Benji asked.  “From a picture, I know, but how?”

 “A magician never reveals his secrets.  I’ve long since realized it’s pointless to ask him how he does most things.”

 “An intriguing man,” Carter commented, taking a seat on the sofa.

 Brandt shoved down at the illogical surge of his territorial nature.  “He’s taken, darling.  Sorry to disappoint.”

 She laughed lightly.  “Don’t worry.  I saw you making eyes at him.”

 “What?” Benji asked.  “What do you mean by that, Carter?”

 She smirked.  “Unless I’m mistaken, Coulson is the mysterious girlfriend that Brandt keeps hinting at having.”

 Ethan smirked too.  “So it’s not so much a mysterious girlfriend, as it is a mysterious boyfriend then, is that so, Brandt?”  He was teasing now.

 And Brandt couldn’t help himself.  He chuckled a little.  “Not so much a mysterious boyfriend, as you say Ethan, but more of a mysterious husband.”

 Benji began sputtering.  “You’re _married_?  But how would...?  Why did...?  Your records are...  But—”

 It only served to make Brandt laugh harder.

 ______________________________________________________

 

Six and a half hours later, IMF agent Brandt (aka, Clint Barton, to a select few) was reclining in a rather relaxing chair on the S.H.I.E.L.D. jet, headed for Germany.  A rather relaxed Agent Coulson was there as well, reclining in the seat beside him.  Their hands were tangled together, and Brandt’s cheek was resting on Coulson’s shoulder.  Coulson’s head on top of his.

 Coulson sighed quietly.  “I do wish you would stop announcing our relationship to everyone you ever work with.  It makes it more complicated for me.  You know how many enemies I have.”

 Brandt rolled his eyes, even though they were closed.  (Coulson would expect the gesture.)  “I trust them not to spill to anyone.  But even if they did, I know you would reach me before any of your _‘enemies’_ could.”

 “But now I have to run tabs on the three of them constantly to watch that they don’t come into contact with certain people.”  No one but Brandt would have dared call his tone a whine.

 “It’s fine,” he said though, not calling Coulson out on that.  “Stop thinking about it.  You can set up the parameters of your stalking my team tomorrow, as if you didn’t already have it all planned out.  Right now you need sleep.  If the Captain really is out there and alive, he needs you fully conscious.”

 Coulson squeezed his fingers.  “Fine...  Wake me when we get there.”

 “Of course,” Brandt replied, bringing their hands up momentarily to drop a kiss on the backs of Coulson’s fingers.  “Sleep, Phil.  Now.”

 So Coulson did.

**Author's Note:**

> That note about the Captain's serum being negated is a nod to Sister #2. If the world of fandom is lucky, she'll one day write the most amazing crossover fic to ever dance across four fandoms. If not, well...I'll beg to write within the 'verse of her imagination.
> 
> For you guys, all it means is that, Captain America may not be /just/ Steve Rogers. *cue mysterious music* As it stands though, in this 'verse they won't find the Captain for almost two years. Sadly Coulson is going to be searching for a while...
> 
> (Cross-posts are available on my LJ and Dreamwidth of the same username.)


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